Tools for Analyzing Primary Sources and Close Reading
I love EDSITEment! If you haven’t been there, you really need to head over and check it out.
Joe Phelan, an educational liasion, describes EDSITEment as:
the K-12 digital outreach program from the National Endowment for the Humanities. We are especially strong in US History, government, American and British literature as well as art and culture. Our online lesson plans are built around guided reading of primary sources which are carefully contextualized and stress critical thinking and other 21st century skills.
There are tons of lesson plans and other handy resources. One of their sweet pages highlights a variety of tools for analyzing primary sources and close reading. These links direct you to other websites and references to resources available through government, nonprofit, and commercial entities.
- Using Primary Sources in the Classroom (American Memory Project, Library of Congress)
- History in the Raw (National Archives)
- Document Analysis Worksheets (National Archives)
Close Reading Guides
- How to Do a Close Reading (Harvard University Library)
- Reading Critically (Harvard University Library)
- How To Read a Poem by Edward Hirsch
- Poetry: Close Reading (Purdue OWL)
Close Reading Webinars
- Teaching Through Close Reading: Historical and Informational Texts (National Humanities Center archived webinar)
- Teaching Through Close Reading: Poetry and Fiction (National Humanities Center archived webinar)




